Central Otago 9 — 13 November

Our Spring Tour is always popular. It’s a great ime for a vinous getaway – winter is well and truly on the run, Christmas insanity has yet to take hold. And it’s a season when New Zealand’s most photographed wine region looks amazing. The vines are well past budburst, everything looks new and polished. 

The tour is a three-and-a-half day exploration of ‘Grand Cru’ Central Otago. We visit the region’s top wine estates and are received by some of the best winemakers in the country, men and women who are close to the land, inspirationally so, and will introduce us to their pinots, their chardonnays, their mahi. Listening, tasting, asking, learning. The winery visits will be balanced by leisure time in a setting that is, well, more than a little special. Where there is great wine, there must also be great food. The table will be our connector, a place of sensory enjoyment and laughter.

The tour is intimate in scale, restricted to 10 guests.

Your Host

Leading the tour is John Saker. Wine writer and judge, the author of three wine books, he is currently the writer/editor of Te Whenua, The Wine Newsletter. He has been visiting and writing about Central Otago for over 25 years and has a close connection to its terroir. The tour driver (we will be criss-crossing the region in a comfy 12-seater) is Paul Saker-Norrish, who doubles as tour minstrel. After working as a musician in Paris for 7 years, Paul is as well-versed in la chanson française as he is in Kiwi classics.

Your Accommodation

We’re more than pleased to have Gibbston Valley Lodge as our accommodation partner. This new five-star retreat is made up of individual villas set among the vines in the Gibbston. The villas are top-notch, offering every comfort. As part of the Gibbston Valley Wines operation, the Lodge is a ‘vino-focussed’ establishment, making it the perfect base for a tour such as ours. We rendezvous every morning and every evening in its beautiful bar and dining area. There is ample time in the itinerary to take advantage of the Lodge’s spa facilities, gym, bikes for hire and other amenities. You can check their website here.

The Table

Food, wine and good cheer are the tour mainstays. 

We breakfast every morning at the Lodge and have our lunches à l’extérieur. One of these lunches will be a picnic at the glorious old gold mining village of Welshtown high up in Bendigo, another will be at the award winning (three hats from Cuisine) Amisfield Restaurant. Every evening we will dine at the Gibbston Valley Lodge’s excellent restaurant and enjoy a variety of Central Otago wines - some old, some new. Interesting ‘mystery wines’ will also feature. On the final night there will be a special degustation dinner hosted by Gibbston Valley winemaker Christopher Keys in the Lodge’s private cellar dining room. It goes without saying all dietary requirements are catered for. 

The Itinerary

Guests arrive at the Lodge on the afternoon of Sunday 9 November. There will be time to relax before we congregate at the Lodge bar before dinner. Over the next three days there will be daily winery visits, great meals, wine and conversation. The winery visits will include encounters with Otago’s most prestigious estates such as Felton Road, Rippon Vineyard, Prophet’s Rock and Burn Cottage. Each day we will return to the Lodge around 3-4pm and there will be time to unwind before dinner. After breakfast on Thursday 13 November, it will be ‘haere ra’ as we go our different ways with transfers to the airport.

To find out more contact me direct on 027 249 8161 or sakerjohn@gmail.com